dimidiation
(dɪˌmɪdɪˈeɪʃən, daɪ-)
[ad. L. dīmidiātiōn-em, n. of action from dīmidiāre to halve: see dimidiate a.]
The action of halving, or condition of being halved; spec. in Her. the combination or ‘marshalling’ of two coats of arms by placing side by side the dexter half of one and the sinister half of the other; an early form of impalement.
| c 1425 Craft Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 5 Þer ben .7...partes of þis craft. The first is called addicion, þe seconde.. subtraccion. The thryd is called duplacion. The 4...dimydicion. 1658 Phillips, Dimidiation, a dividing in the midst, a cutting into two halves. 1780 J. Edmondson Heraldry 179 This method of impaling arms by dimidiation hath been for some time laid aside in England. 1847 Parker Gloss. Brit. Her. 113 Dimidiation, the dexter half of the husband's arms being joined to the sinister half of the wife's. 1882 Cussans Handbk. Her. xii. (ed. 3) 164 Marshalling by Dimidiation was, towards the close of the Fourteenth Century, superseded by Impalement. |